The Evacuated Tube Solar Collectors harness the power of the sun to provide energy for hydronic systems while reducing utility costs and pollution. Evacuated tube collectors use a vacuum space within each tube’s borosilicate glass shell to offer unsurpassed heat loss protection. HTP Evacuated Tube Solar Collectors are independently tested and certified by the world’s leading solar energy authorities. Numerous design innovations ensure that HTP’s Evacuated Tube Solar Collectors lead the industry in reliability, heat output, and return on investment.

Over the last month, HTP installed the solar tubes which will be used to service all the hot water for the new E-Terminal at the international airport. They were turned on in late March and are a great addition to the updated wing of the airport. Take a look at the tubes in action, below.

Have you ever had your back up against a wall - or your collectors back up against a wall and nowhere to place your legs? Now your problem has been solved by HTP's new 2/3 Mount Hardware attachment kit.

The 2/3 mount hardware kit allows the rear strut legs to attach to the side frame rail of the collector instead of the top position as is the case when using our 86009-692 MT- mounting kit.

This kit can be used anytime, but if primarily for situations where the base dimension (distance between front to rear foot) needs to be compressed. Normally the base dimension is the same as the length of the collector, so the base dimension of a 10 foot collector is 122 inches when using our MT- hardware, but that same base dimension can be reduced to 81 inches when utilizing the 2/3 kit.

Check out all of HTP's 5 solar collector mounting hardware options here in the expanding solar section of our website!

Note: This system features a mismatched boiler, solar pump station, DHW storage tanks — and lots of controls trying to make something work.I know that these days we’re all trying to save our nickels. We’re looking for deals, sales, and great finds anywhere we can. People designing solar thermal systems aren’t exempt from this. Here and there you'll find a good deal on a set of unmatched collectors or a really great price on a used boiler, but the result is a mismatched system that is almost always guaranteed to work sluggishly (if at all).

It seems I’m spending a good amount of time lately trying to talk homeowners and installers out of these hodge-podge designs.

Recently, for instance, an installer sent me a drawing that featured a Bosch Water Heater, as well as a Bock tank, Caleffi controllers and a HTP stainless tank with both gas and electric heating.

In other cases, I’ve taken two dozen calls since 2013 from a homeowner who was promised by a solar dealer that a new solar system would reduce her propane bills. After the outdated 1970s-era design failed, the installer continued to add boilers and other parts to try to fix it — charging the homeowner each time. The new solar system actually produced utility bills higher than those using the homeowner’s old, inefficient boiler.

The main lesson here - you can’t determine the efficiency of a mismatched system.

When I started designing solar thermal systems back in the early ‘90s, all we had available were parts from different suppliers that had to be used together. I often found hidden conflicts with heaters and tanks that would not respond correctly, or the controls were so complicated it was difficult to get one sequence to initiate after another.

You simply can’t predict if these systems, designed to be built only once, will work. There is no backlog testing and its performance history has never been measured. These are all unknowns until you actually build one, test and measure, changing what didn’t work — until it performs adequately.

Some manufacturers have begun to provide whole systems in which all components work together. At HTP, its innovative owner and I have spent years developing integrated solar heating systems designed — and proven — to work seamlessly.

But there are still plenty of manufacturers who don’t have the capability to expand around a whole system because they don’t make the whole system. I am contacted regularly, for instance, by companies wanting to sell their collectors. That’s all they make — the easy stuff.

More important than the sales price of individual components is the long-term return on investment of the whole system. You can save yourself countless hours and endless frustration by installing systems in which all components are happy to work together.

Have questions about an upcoming solar project? Contact me, I'll be happy to help.

1 sq. ft. of solar thermal collector can produce up to 1 1/2 gallons of hot water per day. So a 4’ x 10’ (Solar Skies SS-40) solar thermal collector can produce 40 – 60 gallons of 120° water per day in MN.

Solar thermal collectors must face south. Within 30° East or West of due South is acceptable.

Solar thermal collectors should be tilted equal to the latitude of the location they are installed in for best year-round performance.

Solar thermal collectors can be mounted on a roof, a building’s side wall, or on the ground away from the building.

Snow or morning frost will accumulate on the collector but will melt off as soon as the sun comes out.

The tempered glass used to manufacture the Solar Skies Collectors are not as fragile as they might seem. It has been tested and SRCC approved for 350 PSI.

The life span of a solar thermal collector is 30+ years with minimal to no maintenance.